Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Economics
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 04-28-2018, 10:56 AM
 
Location: moved
13,587 posts, read 9,618,420 times
Reputation: 23343

Advertisements

Typically, the reason for these eye-watering numbers, is that as one's income increases, there is concomitant increase in expenses... taxes, childcare and the like. That is to say, that of each additional $1 earning, perhaps only $0.30 is kept (a nominal guess - could be entirely wrong). This is why the actual discretionary funds available, may differ only slightly, between people who earn a moderate amount, and those who earn a very considerable one.

Also useful is to make distinction between a family with children, and a single person (or cohabiting couple) without children. We then dispense with the costs of raising children, the "need" to live in the premier school-districts and the like. By my reckoning, for this latter group, the real difference in cost-of-living between one or another locale, is in the taxes.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 04-28-2018, 11:09 AM
 
Location: Oregon, formerly Texas
10,022 posts, read 7,168,058 times
Reputation: 17121
The hypothetical family can't possibly do everything the article says. This is like those articles that say poor people can make 50k a year through welfare... they never qualify for every program simultaneously.

The author has the parents going on weekly date nights, weekend getaways, take-out every day, an $8000 vacation every year, and somehow his "entertainment" costs $600 a month? Netflix costs $17. What, are they going to see the 49ers or Warriors every week? If so, when do they do their weekend getaways?

They're going to go on all these vacations, getaways, and events with a baby?

$500 a month on clothes?? What, do they wear out a business suit that needs replacing every month? I replace about 10-20% of my worn out work clothes every YEAR, and it costs maybe 500-1000, and that's when I splurge. Baby clothes are something like a few dollars per item at Wal-Mart. There is no reason to buy the baby nice clothes he or she will just spit up on.

He's counting the baby expenses as monthly when cribs, etc... should be one-time costs, unless they're planning on having a baby every year for many years.

$2100/mo on food, and that's on top of the date nights! At my house we do takeout about twice a week. Takeout is typically 10-15 per person. The baby is not eating takeout. Baby food is pretty cheap. Even getting takeout every single day does not add up to $2000, it's more like half that. So wtf?

They could have bought a 2015 Volvo for cash if they cut back their 401k contributions for a year.

The mortgage and car payment look reasonable for this family, but, with work and family, I don't think I could live the lifestyle this article suggests even given unlimited money. There is simply not the time to do all the sporting events, date nights, etc... How exhausting!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-28-2018, 11:20 AM
 
1,156 posts, read 932,574 times
Reputation: 3598
It really looks like the author needed a big number to grab attention and then backed into the details.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-28-2018, 11:42 AM
 
10,004 posts, read 11,098,192 times
Reputation: 6298
Quote:
Originally Posted by k374 View Post
Per CNBC "comfortable" middle class lifestyle is many of the major metros requires $300,000/yr..

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/27/sam-...00-a-year.html

Seems high, I would say $200,000/yr would do it, anything lower than $200,000/yr and it would not be optimal in terms of raising kids, living in a good area with good schools, saving for retirement and taking the family on a vacation or two a year.
Ridiculous.. This article should be used in the bathroom as toilet paper. A joke.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-28-2018, 02:10 PM
 
8,012 posts, read 8,179,108 times
Reputation: 12159
Quote:
Originally Posted by teakboat View Post
Normal liberal gibberish. That means no country in the world has a middle class. Anywhere. Similar to the arbitrary "poverty level" calculation we hear about all the time.
Normal right wing partisan gibberish. Try to break down any talking point as liberal vs conservative.

The person behind this article probably came up with such an outlandish theory to get attention and notoriety.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-28-2018, 03:24 PM
 
8,795 posts, read 6,735,407 times
Reputation: 8542
It should have been titled "upper middle class." This isn't about middle class at all. It's also about families.

A lot of singles/couples/retirees live very well in the expensive cities on much less money, simply by some combination of less square footage, no car (or one car), etc.

Seattle doesn't belong anywhere near the Manhattan or San Francisco cost level (or the similar Vancouver level) despite being increasingly mentioned with them. Between buying/renting and various types of housing, I'd guess we're generally about 60% of the price of those three.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-28-2018, 04:19 PM
 
10,004 posts, read 11,098,192 times
Reputation: 6298
Quote:
Originally Posted by mhays25 View Post
It should have been titled "upper middle class." This isn't about middle class at all. It's also about families.

A lot of singles/couples/retirees live very well in the expensive cities on much less money, simply by some combination of less square footage, no car (or one car), etc.

Seattle doesn't belong anywhere near the Manhattan or San Francisco cost level (or the similar Vancouver level) despite being increasingly mentioned with them. Between buying/renting and various types of housing, I'd guess we're generally about 60% of the price of those three.
That nut job needs to get in touch with reality.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-28-2018, 04:46 PM
 
Location: 415->916->602
3,145 posts, read 2,640,965 times
Reputation: 3872
Wtf
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-28-2018, 05:04 PM
 
Location: Nebraska
1,481 posts, read 1,372,319 times
Reputation: 1532
Quote:
Originally Posted by redguard57 View Post


$500 a month on clothes?? What, do they wear out a business suit that needs replacing every month? I replace about 10-20% of my worn out work clothes every YEAR, and it costs maybe 500-1000, and that's when I splurge. Baby clothes are something like a few dollars per item at Wal-Mart. There is no reason to buy the baby nice clothes he or she will just spit up on.
I imagine the people who believe they need 300K to be middle class would find shopping at Walmart beneath them.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-28-2018, 05:08 PM
 
1,087 posts, read 777,083 times
Reputation: 763
That person's tax burden is bigger too (both in % and in $). Federal income tax alone would be bigger than most people's gross incomes.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Economics
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 12:27 AM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top